Heather Langenkamp

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American actress, film producer and prosthetic makeup coordinator

Heather Langenkamp (born July 17, 1964) is an American actress, writer, director, producer, and prosthetic makeup coordinator. She is recognized in popular culture for her prolific work in the horror genre and scream queen roles.

Langenkamp began her career as an extra in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both in 1983) before debuting as a lead actress in Nickel Mountain (1984). She is best known for her performances as Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Dream Warriors (1987), and as a fictionalized version of herself in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)—all a part of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, Langenkamp acted in films such as The Butterfly Room (2012), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Truth or Dare (2017), Hellraiser: Judgment (2018), and My Little Pony: A New Generation (2021).

Langenkamp has starred in numerous television series and made-for-television films throughout her career such as the drama film P*ions (1984), the Emmy Award–winning ABC sitcoms Growing Pains (1988–1990) and Just the Ten of Us (1988–1990), the satirical film Tonya and Nancy: The Inside Story (1994), the anthology series Perversions of Science (1997), the adult animated series JJ Villard's Fairy Tales (2020), and the Mike Flanagan created Netflix series The Midnight Club (2022).

Langenkamp met her husband, Oscar-winning make-up artist David LeRoy Anderson, at a wrap party for Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) and together they run the make-up FX firm AFX Studio. Subsequent ventures include working as the special makeup effects coordinator for movies such as Dawn of the Dead (2004), Cinderella Man (2005), Evan Almighty (2007), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).

1 Early life
2 Career
- 2.1 Early work
- 2.2 Rise to prominence
- 2.3 Continued success and expansion
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
- 4.1 Film
- 4.2 Television
- 4.3 Web series
- 4.4 Music videos
5 Awards and nominations
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Early life

Heather Elizabeth Langenkamp was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her mother, Mary Alice (née Myers), is an artist. Her father, Robert Dobie Langenkamp, is a petroleum attorney. Her father was a Deputy *istant Secretary of Energy in the Carter Administration, where he was partially responsible for realizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He worked under the Clinton Administration, where he helped with privatizing Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1. He later was the Director of the National Energy & Environmental Law & Policy Ins*ute of the University of Tulsa College of Law. She later moved to Washington, D.C. after her father's appointment to the Carter administration, where she attended the National Cathedral School for Girls, with cl*mate and future Stanford University roommate Susan Rice.

Career

Early work

At the age of nineteen, Langenkamp worked for the Tulsa Tribune. She saw an adverti*t looking for extras for Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders in the summer of 1983. Auditions took place at a nearby elementary school where Langenkamp gave the casting director her Polaroid. She got a call back to appear in a high school scene. Amidst what seemed like "hundreds" of other adolescents, she had to wear 1950s based attire. The same summer, Coppola was shooting another film, Rumble Fish. Her friend got a phone call to appear in a street scene. Her friend's mother felt more comfortable with Langenkamp going with her to the set at night. The *istant director informed her that they had dialogue and wanted to give it to her. She did several takes of her saying dialogue to Matt Dillon's character. The scenes didn't make it into the final product of either film. Despite this, these extra parts helped her get into the Screen Actors Guild. Langenkamp stayed in close contact with the casting director, her *istant, and the producer.

While studying at Stanford University, she would travel to Los Angeles to pursue acting opportunities. Her first official Hollywood audition was for Drew Denbaum's Nickel Mountain (1984), an adaptation of John Gardner's 1973 novel. During the audition, her rented car got hit by a runaway truck on Cahuenga Boulevard. Denbaum and the casting director helped Langenkamp during the ordeal. She bonded with them and got cast in the lead role of Callie Wells. She has expressed regret for doing the nude scene as she feared voicing her discomfort at the time of filming. She later got cast as Beth alongside Joanne Woodward and Richard Crenna in the CBS television film P*ions (1984). The direction towards her character received praise.

Rise to prominence

Langenkamp became aware of auditions for a horror film known as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) in the winter of 1983. Casting director Annette Benson was familiar to Langenkamp as she had brought her in to read for the lead role in Night of the Comet (1984) although the part ultimately went to Catherine Mary Stewart. She auditioned for the highly sought after role of fifteen-year-old *e Nancy. There were not enough chairs to accommodate the number of actresses auditioning. Her reading impressed both Benson and director Wes Craven enough that she was called back to read with another actress auditioning, Amanda Wyss. Craven stated that he wanted someone very "non-Hollywood" and someone who embodied the "all-American, girl-next-door" for the role and believed that Langenkamp had these qualities. Craven informed her that she got the part that winter, although shooting didn't begin until June 1984. She beat out more than 200 actresses auditioning for the part. She won the Best Actress Award at the Avoriaz Film Festival for her role as Nancy, and Empire magazine wrote that "Heather Langenkamp an appealing high school lead."

In 1984, she starred in the music video for ZZ Top's "Sleeping Bag". In 1986, she guest-starred in CBS Schoolbreak Special and ABC Afterschool Specials. Langenkamp was cast in Suburban Beat (1985), a television pilot that was not picked up for a full series, where she played Hope Sherman, the youngest housewife. Craven approached Langenkamp to reprise her role of Nancy in the sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), about the survivors of Freddy Krueger's previous attempts; it opened to box office success in 1987 grossing over $44 million, and earned positive reviews. Later, she had a guest appearance as Tracy in the television series The New Adventures of Beans Baxter and Monica on the soap opera Hotel (both in 1987). Langenkamp obtained further recognition when she portrayed lead character Marie Lubbock on the ABC television series Just the Ten of Us, a spin-off of the popular ABC situation comedy Growing Pains (on which she guest-starred), from 1988 to 1990. Both shows won Emmy Awards. That year, she and her castmates were nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special.

Langenkamp had a cameo role as the first victim of Horace Pinker in Wes Craven's horror film Shocker (1989). In the film, she is on a news report being pulled away on a stretcher. Following this, she portrayed the figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in the NBC television film Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story (also released in 1994), which focused on Tonya Harding's husband's attack.

I would never say no to the option of doing something like that. It's a great universe and it's one of the most creative franchises, there's more to be made, I'm sure.

—Langenkamp on the possibility of returning to the A Nightmare on Elm Street series

Langenkamp returned to the Elm Street franchise with Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which is a standalone film, and follows the journey Freddy Krueger takes to the real world. She instead starred as a fictionalized version of herself, which was based on a stalking incident she was subject to that involved a fan angry over the cancellation of her show, Just the Ten of Us. On the film, Langenkamp stated "It's a really interesting concept, and it's one of the only horror movies where the monster's really in the background, at least until the end. But it's all about our mentality about fear." Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released in 1994, and opened to critical praise, being cited as an influential "metahorror" film. Langenkamp's acting earned acclaim, with several critics dubbing it her magnum opus. Review website Slasher Studios wrote that "The performances are pitch perfect, led by a tour-de-force performance by the amazing Langenkamp." In a video ranking the Nightmare on Elm Street films, James A. Janisse, the host of the YouTube channel Dead Meat, stated that Langenkamp "is in top form and gives her best performance of the franchise here, likely a product of her age and greater life experience." For her performance, she won the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress.

Continued success and expansion

Langenkamp starred in Robert Kurtzman's low-budget superhero film The Demolitionist (1995). In 1997, she portrayed Lou Ann Solomon in one episode of the short-lived science fiction/horror television series Perversions of Science. She later starred in the direct-to-video film Fugitive Mind (1999). In 2000, she had a guest role in 18 Wheels of Justice as a waitress. The following year, she and her husband, David LeRoy Anderson, launched the Malibu Gum Factory which sold locally manufactured chewing gum that featured trading cards of local surfers inside each package. Langenkamp played Janet Thompson in an episode of JAG (2002). After this, she took a break from acting to focus on her family. In 2005, she was cast in the Wes Craven horror film Cursed. The film had to be reshot and rewritten, causing her to leave due to scheduling conflicts.

Langenkamp at the Fan Expo Canada in 2014

Langenkamp portrayed a fictionalized version of herself in the indie moc*entary film The Bet (2007). It was released as a web series with the same *le in April 2020. She starred in, executive produced, and narrated the 2010 do*entary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. The following year, she produced a do*entary en*led I Am Nancy, which focused on her experience portraying Nancy in the A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Langenkamp portrayed Dorothy in the horror film The Butterfly Room (2012). As a partner in her husband's Special FX Make-up company, AFX Studio, she worked on the horror-comedy film The Cabin in the Woods. In 2013, Langenkamp appeared as herself in the do*entary Fantasm and had a small role of an alien in the film, Star Trek Into Darkness in which her husband David LeRoy Anderson designed all of the Special FX make-up. In 2014, she made a cameo appearance in the fourth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story, *led Freak Show, as a Tupperware party lady.

In 2015, Langenkamp was cast in the short film Intruder, portrayed Sharon Monroe in four episodes of the drama series The Bay, and narrated the short horror film Vault of the Macabre II. In 2016, she starred in the horror drama film Home. Langenkamp had a cameo role in the short horror comedy film The Sub (2017) and appeared as herself in the do*entary Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2017). She has a cameo appearance in the horror sequel film Hellraiser: Judgment. Also that year, she portrayed the adult version of the "final girl" Donna Boone in the Syfy television horror film Truth or Dare, guiding a group of teenagers with their battle with a deadly spirit that left her physically scarred several years prior. She is confirmed to have the anchoring role in the Mike Flanagan written, directed, and executive produced Netflix series The Midnight Club (2022). Langenkamp voices Dazzle Feather and Mayflower in My Little Pony: A New Generation (2021).

Personal life

Jill Simpson, the *istant to The Outsiders (1984) casting director, became a close friend of Langenkamp. Simpson worked as the *istant on Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) and suggested that Langenkamp attend a wrap party to meet one of the crew members. There, she met make-up artist David LeRoy Anderson and the two began a relationship shortly after. Anderson proposed to her on the set of Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary (1989) and they wed that year. They had two children together, son Daniel "Atticus" Anderson, who died as the result of a brain tumor, and daughter Isabelle Anderson. She was previously married to Alan Pasqua, a musician, from 1984 until 1987.